racing at laguna seca

Laguna Seca in my rear view

Now this was too much fun. I drove Laguna Seca at Skip Barber racing school last week, what an adrenaline rush... We ran the little Fomula Dodge racers, which are basically scaled down Formula 1 style cars -- open wheel, steel space frame, rear engine mini-monsters that pull at least 1.1g on the skidpad and top out at 130mph. I had never been on a track before, but after a few laps going progressively faster behind the pace car, I found the line and started to feel like Speed Racer ;-) Of course it was a bit like the mechanical rabbit at a greyhound track; you chase that pace driver, but he's always faster than you, you're never going to catch him. And even better, while you're driving as fast and hard as you can, all white knuckles and sweat, he's tooling along with one hand on the wheel, sliding the corners while talking on the 2-way radio and giving pointers to his 3 passengers riding along in his Dodge Neon!

I have to say it was amazing being on a real racetrack, getting a view that you normally only see on ESPN, sliding around the Andretti Hairpin, hurtling down the Rahal Straight and diving into the blind downhill Corkscrew. I managed to keep the wheels going in the right direction most of the time, but I did get backwards in turn 11 and the guy behind me almost took my picture as a result, heh. Well I won't quit my day job.

If you want to get an idea of what it's like, check out this wmv video clip of a lap around Laguna Seca. Just add rushing wind, roaring engines, and the fine smell of smoking rubber, and you're there.

how about that weather!

In case anyone's wondering, I brought our sweet sunny Bay Area weather with me to the UK and swapped it for English drizzle. I hear it sucks back home, but gawd it is nice here in Bristol.

Traveler's note: if you ever stay at the Marriott on College Green, you can get the free StreetNet wifi if you sit by the windows in the drawing room. In fact, you're soaking in it right now ;-)

a good bud

Add things I never knew: Budweiser is a Czech beer from the Budweiser Budvar brewery. It has been around since 1895. And it's *good*. Ah, but there's this little problem of a trademark dispute:

The history of disputes over Budějovický Budvar’s trademarks dates back to the beginning of the last century. For decades, one of the major US breweries had tried to buy the rights to its trademarks from Budějovický Budvar, initially only for the territory of the US. Just before the Second World War, this brewery in fact was successful in its attempts. This US brewery has continued its efforts to obtain Budějovický Budvar’s trademarks until today.

Budějovický Budvar is therefore currently defending its historical rights to its trademarks against Anheuser-Busch, which is attacking Budějovický Budvar through over 40 lawsuits and more than 40 administrative proceedings before patent authorities all over the world. A large majority of the courts’ decisions uphold Budějovický Budvar’s rights to its trademarks. Budějovický Budvar has recently won trademark disputes e.g. in the UK, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and New Zealand.

My knowledgeable hosts suggested that AB might have ...er... started using the name without permission or compensation... and they continue their attempts to wrest control of the name away from the original brewery to this day.

early ubicomp?

eastward ho

Heading home, and it's about time. Catching up on feeds at Narita. Brain tired, very tired. Fortunately it's always happy hour here in the interstitial spaces ;-D

taipei 101

What good is the world's tallest building* if you can't go up in it yet?

goodbye hong kong...

Time to hit the road again. Hong Kong was fun, but we gotta go.

Travel notes:
Thai Orchid lounge (Star Alliance Gold) and United Red Carpet Club are right next to each other at Hong Kong airport, out near gate 40 in the terminal. I had to check out both, since I could ;-) Thai has slightly better food, but UA has nicer chairs, carpet instead of marble floors, and hot dogs ("mixed meat sausages") with relish. Wifi is available, but it costs. Worth it if you need a blogging fix though ;-)

My flight's leaving, see you on the other side.

so long singapore

Back in interstitial space, on the far side of the Singapore immigration desk. The Changi departure area for Singapore Air is like a giant mall, which is totally appropriate I suppose considering shopping is a national sport here, second only to eating. Speaking of which, I was quite happy to get a bit of roti prata and some chili crab last night, chased with a cold Tiger ;-)

Anyway, off we go, next stop Hong Kong. Are we jet lagged yet?

scammed in bangkok, again

Fool me twice... If you're in Bangkok and happen to see this tuk-tuk driver, please smack him for me. He's a very friendly small-time criminal accomplice that helped rope me into a tourist shopping scam. Jerk (him). Stupid (me).

The script was straight out of the guidebook warnings about gem scams, except that this was a small-time affair that involved textiles instead of gemstones. The tuk-tuk driver's setup man stopped me on the street outside the Royal Palace, said he was in ticket sales at the Palace, told me it was closed for the day due to a special ceremony, and said I should go see the very impressive White Buddha and Black Buddha temples instead. Off the beaten path, very nice. Then the driver appeared, and the setup guy "negotiated" a super-cheap fare of 20 Baht (about 50 cents) for me to go to both temples. It was all very convincing, what did I know? ;-) The driver brought me off to an actual though unimpressive temple, then asked would I mind visiting a shop for 5 minutes; if I did, the shopkeeper would give him gas coupons for his tuk-tuk. Uh, okay I guess. Fortunately I didn't end up buying any of the tailored-to-order suits (never would have shipped), special price hand knotted silk rugs (also very happy to ship to your country sir), or US $100 silk placemat sets (very pretty, but even I knew that $100 was crazy for a small wad of textiles in Thailand). And very fortunately, noone offered me a drink.

At the end, I got dropped off at the Temple of the Golden Mount, which was actually quite cool. But I never got to see that Black Buddha.

scammed in bangkok

Oh, the first thing I did on arriving in Bangkok was I fell for a taxi scam. There was a huge, huge line for the official taxi stand at the airport, it was hot and sticky and the middle of the night, and I was half dead from 24 hours of travelling. This guy comes up to me and asks do I want a taxi-meter (the normal, distance-metered cabs) with no waiting? Uh, sure. But I forgot to ask how much the fare was, duh. Guess what, I paid 3x the normal fare to the city. The only good news was, even at 3x the price it was still about 30% cheaper than a comparable fare in the states. But still, how dumb can you get?

wat pho

Temple of the Reclining Buddha, Wat Phra Chetuphon aka Wat Pho. Big, very big.

cultural imperialism, good manners

The second thing I noticed coming out of my hotel in Bangkok, Ronald McDonald doing the Thai Wai. Sigh.

(The first thing was an ad for a restaurant inauspiciously named Tsunami. Ulp.)

disappearing inc

Wouldn't it be great to just disappear? What I mean is, I'm sitting here listening to all these flight announcements for places other than where I'm supposed to be going, and thinking it would be good to make an unscripted move in one of those directions. Hong Kong, Honolulu, Sydney, San Francisco, it almost doesn't matter as long as it's off the itinerary. Make a break for the exit, go off the grid, see what happens.

Hmm, interesting idea for my (dreamed of) sabbatical.

interstitial space, no complaints

Free wifi in the United international lounge at Narita terminal 1, yay! Free drinks too, but cheaper brands than they used to have. Still, pretty good for a bankrupt carrier I suppose. Since I'm stuck here in interstitial space for a couple of hours, I'm inclined to not complain.

headed for bangkok

It feels strange to be going into Thailand on business, trying to carry on with life and work despite the huge tragedies and disruption that have taken place. This trip has been planned for months, but it seems like instead I should be jumping off the plane and onto a truck headed for the coast, helping to get aid and comfort to people that need it. Weird.

i'm in a new york state of mind

No interstitial space on this flight, I knew exactly where I was as I looked out the window. I can’t remember the last time I flew into NYC in the daytime. It was definitely before 9/11/01, and the sight of the lower Manhattan skyline without the twin towers made an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Yesterday at the ranch we were talking a bit about politics, and a couple of people said they had lost friends there in the towers' fall, which for one was a reason to support Bush as he would be tough on terrorists in a way that a weak-willed Kerry could never be; yet for another it was an excellent reason to get rid of Bush as soon as humanly possible for the terrible damage he and his cronies were doing to America at home and abroad in the name of those lost that day.

My flight had been late getting out of Columbus, so when we landed at Laguardia I only had about 10 minutes to make my connection. Fortunately the gate was close, so I made it with a few seconds to spare. I was sure my bags wouldn’t make it and I was resigned to having to deal with them coming in several hours later, but amazingly, they were being loaded up the baggage conveyor just as I was climbing up the steps to the plane. Maybe it was some lingering good karma from this weekend, I think maybe.

After a long wait on the runway, our twin prop puddle jumper got airborne. As we accelerated steeply out of the city, I was able to see Shea Stadum and the Unisphere, the giant globe from the 1964 World’s Fair, which I had seen many times but never known the name of until now. By those landmarks I knew we were just over Flushing, where my grandparents used to live on the 12th floor of an apartment block at 42-55 Colden Street. We used to ride the IRT line from Main Street past Shea to go from Queens into Manhattan, when I was a kid. Once in the late 80’s I met some of my friends at their place, and we had a huge and festive spaghetti dinner. Another time Vicki and I stayed with them before we were married, one of those funny family experiences we all have now and then. He’s gone almost 16 years now, my grandfather, and she’s living in California near us, with her memories trailing away in the wind. Looking down through the window, I felt an ache of sadness and longing for the memories of their lives down there and of mine, knowing there was no going back to find any of those places and pieces again.

random notes from the road

Pleased indeed to find that Peet's has replaced SBUX as the caffeine concession at SFO. I gotta cut back on that particular drug Real Soon Now, but mmm my brain is well trained to want it in the worst way.

Flights through ORD are running smoothly, despite the threat of weather east and south. That's fairly amazing. Shouldn't speak too soon though, still have 45 minutes to my next flight.

The little box of baklava in my bag leaked honey all over my books, camera and laptop. Hauled the whole thing into the airplane lav and cleaned as best I could, which took a long time and earned me the general contempt of fellow passengers who were dancing around in the aisle outside the door. If anyone sees a guy in the airport frowning and licking his computer, that's me.

interstitial space again

5:45am eastern time, homeward bound. My circadian rhythms are displeased with me, I can tell by the dull ache at the back of my neck and the unfocused haze that passes for awareness. Sensemaking apparatus tries to lock onto the familiar sounds of baggage wheels on tile floor as flight crew swings past, that lingering and distinct odor, melange of greasy pizza, sour sweat and Jet A, that whispers 'airport' at the periphery of consciousness. Time to go.

O Canada, land of maple and moose, so long, eh?

fine fun food friends

Had a convivial dinner tonight with new friends, at Biagio on King Street here in Toronto. They introduced me to the very tasty Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc from New Zealand (don't let the screw top fool you, this is the good stuff). My lobster soup had a lobster-shaped crouton in it. The cheesecake was wrapped in filo and drizzled with Grand Marnier. We talked about future technologies, a subject on which I'm always good for a rant. Thanks James, David, Birgit & Molly, you guys rock! Let's see who is the first one to google this up ;-)

fcuk for your country

The fcuk trcuk, heh. You Brits are having way too much fun.

was that already a month ago?

By unpopular demand, many many tourist pics of the fredshouse expedition to London & Paris last month. Man, do I need a vacation ;-D

nous sommes revenus chez fred

Hey, we're back after an extended visit to London and Paris. Road weary, scuffed and dirty like an old suitcase, but emotionally and culturally invigorated. Pictures at 11.

nice day for a road trip

Flowers on the hillside, bloomin' crazy,
Crickets talkin' back and forth in rhyme,
Blue river runnin' slow and lazy,
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time.

Situations have ended sad,
Relationships have all been bad.
Mine've been like Verlaine's and Rimbaud.
But there's no way I can compare
All those scenes to this affair,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

(fine music for the road, with gratitude to the lingerie dude)

mirror world things

Some things they have in England that we just don't see over here: castles, cathedrals, pubs, dental hygiene packs, grit, discoverers of North America, royalty, weird traffic signals.

(Did these links not work for you? Are you running a popup blocker? 'Cause they are photos in popup windows.)

inspiring street art

Stunning graffiti wall found along Av. Borges de Medeiros, Porto Alegre. Click the tiny strip to see the full size image (1.2MB).

homeward bound

After a week in Brazil and a week in Bristol, I'm definitely ready to get on home. One last meeting, then it's a fast blast down the M4 to Heathrow, a quick overnight in Cheap Hotel, and outta here. I dearly love her majesty, but I don't understand the politics, I don't get the sports, and I'm definitely done with all the fancy food.

Well, cheerio! And thanks for all the butties!

caipirinhas and churrasco

Traditional Brazilian dinner for 40 last night at Churrascaria Na Brasa. Endless procession of men with skewered meat, cooked to a fine state of doneness over open wood-fired flames. Sweet caipirinhas, Cachaca sugar cane rum over crushed lime and sugar. Sorvette abacaxi and torta almendrada, pineapple ice cream and almond ice cream torte. An intoxicating feast for the senses!

an interstitial place

ORD is one of those modern interstitial places, neither here nor anywhere in particular. Not Chicago, not Illinois, barely in the USA; merely somewhere in between, unspecified. Drone of milling passengers, rattle of wheeled cases, subliminal rumbling of takeoff under power, the pervasive hint of jet fuel; these are the peripheral notes of this placeless place.

I keep hearing Warren's sparrows in the thickets of lifelike ficus trees. Hey, isn't that a Nokia waltz?

It's cold here. I know because a bit of chill air seeped into the jetway tunnel as we disembarked the plane. I'm dressed for Bay Area spring, Brazilian summer. Dark, cloudy, cold is an unexpected intrusion, a midwestern oeuvre encroaching from beyond the sealed enclosure of the flight plan.

Body says it's hungry. What time is it now? Almost 5pm? Or 7? Or is it 10? Better go with destination time, so 10 it is. Anyone for a spot of pizza and beer? Then, with any luck, a short and fitful sleep over Panama before dropping down into the sub-tropical void...

weather for porto alegre

high Monday: 84; low Monday night: 65
partly cloudy, wind WSW 8mph, humidity 73%
sunrise: 6:25am; sunset: 6:41pm

Southern summer coasting down to fall.

heading home

In Honolulu waiting for our flight back to the Bay Area and real life, after a spectacular week on Maui. Annoying vacation pictures soon to follow ;-)

UPDATE: They're heeere!

mirror world close to home

In Gibson's recent Pattern Recognition, his protagonist Cayce (!) is an American who travels to London and refers to it as the 'mirror world'. Everything in the environment is familiar, but the details are distinctly different. I'm in Oregon, and feeling something a bit like that. I left SFO last night in the cool darkness, arrived in Eugene (!) in the rather icy darkness, rented a car and was off...down dark narrow roads into thick tule fog. Weird, back home the fog has the good graces to stay mostly out of the way. Thirty miles of backroads to Corvallis, GSM coverage pretty good in Eugene but completely gone after the first 15 miles. Wow, okay, guess I'll have to live without a phone for a day. Did I mention backroads? I think I've been living in the pseudocity of Silicon Valley too long -- I haven't driven 30 miles through the country for, ummm, a while? That's kind of sad, actually. Well, then into Corvallis about 10:30pm, small town brick downtown, streets rolled up and silent, reminded me of Holland NY which was unexpected and poignant but not unpleasant. Best Western hotel, basic concrete block building but styled in the direction of antebellum colonial manor house, functional and familiar but in a twisted, prefab, sterile sort of way. One of those paper toilet seat bands, sanitized for my protection (phew, thanks!).

Morning, a wakeup call from an actual person, more fog, and Ice On My Windshield, whoa. Trees actually changing to bright reds and yellows, as if they were actually planning to have winter here. Starbucks. Okay some things are pretty much identical. Wait, Marionberry muffins? Mirror world food. Over to the university, where there's a parking lot with actual parking spaces. Beautiful tree lined avenues, spacious green lawns, sun rising over red brick buildings.

Later, back through the countryside in the slanting afternoon sunlight. The Willamette Valley, lovely and with fly fishing shops. Sheep and llamas grazing along the airport road. Really great, excellent microbrews at the airport restaurant. No line at security, no line at all.

Do people really live like this? Cool. Different, but cool.

mirror world close to home

In Gibson's recent Pattern Recognition, his protagonist Cayce (!) is an American who travels to London and refers to it as the 'mirror world'. Everything in the environment is familiar, but the details are distinctly different. I'm in Oregon, and feeling something a bit like that. I left SFO last night in the cool darkness, arrived in Eugene (!) in the rather icy darkness, rented a car and was off...down dark narrow roads into thick tule fog. Weird, back home the fog has the good graces to stay mostly out of the way. Thirty miles of backroads to Corvallis, GSM coverage pretty good in Eugene but completely gone after the first 15 miles. Wow, okay, guess I'll have to live without a phone for a day. Did I mention backroads? I think I've been living in the pseudocity of Silicon Valley too long -- I haven't driven 30 miles through the country for, ummm, a while? That's kind of sad, actually. Well, then into Corvallis about 10:30pm, small town brick downtown, streets rolled up and silent, reminded me of Holland NY which was unexpected and poignant but not unpleasant. Best Western hotel, basic concrete block building but styled in the direction of antebellum colonial manor house, functional and familiar but in a twisted, prefab, sterile sort of way. One of those paper toilet seat bands, sanitized for my protection (phew, thanks!).

Morning, a wakeup call from an actual person, more fog, and Ice On My Windshield, whoa. Trees actually changing to bright reds and yellows, as if they were actually planning to have winter here. Starbucks. Okay some things are pretty much identical. Wait, Marionberry muffins? Mirror world food. Over to the university, where there's a parking lot with actual parking spaces. Beautiful tree lined avenues, spacious green lawns, sun rising over red brick buildings.

Later, back through the countryside in the slanting afternoon sunlight. The Willamette Valley, lovely and with fly fishing shops. Sheep and llamas grazing along the airport road. Really great, excellent microbrews at the airport restaurant. No line at security, no line at all.

Do people really live like this? Cool. Different, but cool.

the hyperlinked bed

I'm at my second Westin hotel in 2 weeks, this time in Cincinnati. It's a consistent experience, which is somewhat comforting but also quite disconcerting. I really enjoy travelling, but I am struck by how homogeneous my experiences are when doing the usual airports-hotels-conference center circuit of business travel. Sometimes it becomes hard to remember where I am, which leads to funny behavior like getting lost in Dulles airport thinking it was O'Hare. There's a lot more to say about this, but it's getting late and my Heavenly Bed awaits. Oh man, I had no idea you can actually *buy* one ;-D

So is there a physical hyperlink between seattle.bed.heavenly and cincinnati.bed.heavenly? Whatever that means.

Sleep. Now.

off to Seattle

It's airports & hotels time again, as I'm heading up to Seattle for Ubicomp 2003. It will be tough to beat last year's classic venue (the Draken Cinema in Goteborg, Sweden), but I'm sure Joe and the Intel crew will try.

These academic conferences are not usually very controversial, but there has been a little tempest blowing between John Thackara (of Doors of Perception fame) and members of the Ubicomp community. John has posted the original graf from the DOP newsletter, several unhappy email comments, and his own response. I like John and his work, and I'm also part of the ubi-world, so I'm not sure which bugs me more: that Thackara took such a factually sloppy and snide shot, or that the primary response of Ubicompers was to take the cheap bait. Whenever I see the trigger words "outraged", "offensive" and "sexist", I worry that normally reasonable people have started up their familiar intellectual movie reels and thus constructive discussion, polemical or otherwise, has flown out the window.

Anyway, it looks like good Fall weather up north. Should be good, hoping for power and connectivity at the conference.